Hardware building blocks
Based on a fundamental analysis of the hardware requirements in robotics research as well as industry the BRICS partners will develop Robotics RTD Platforms, components and interfaces to:
- define and implement showcases, which allow to study and measure the acceleration of the robot development process
- provide them to external collaborators.
 BlueBotics platform |
 KUKA youBot |
 IPA Care-O-Bot3 |
 BRSU Jonny |
Therefore hardware from the consortium partners and other suppliers will be included. The project internal hardware development focuses on harmonisation towards BRICS overall targets:
- the promotion of the interoperability of hardware and software components by harmonising the interfaces and as well as the communication and data exchange between these components
- the design and implementation of an integrated robotic development environment including a software repository of best practise robotics algorithms.
 IPA Rob(at)Work2 |
 KUKA omniRob |
 KUKA LRW |
During the project runtime a number of research camps will be organised to give external collaborators access to the Robotics RTD Platforms, components and interfaces. The following scientific and technical key issues will be addressed in this activity:
- Concepts for common Robotics RTD Platforms (RRP) which provide open access on different levels of abstraction
- Communication of these concepts to European robotics stakeholders in order to analyse the requirements and possible access models for such research platforms
- Specification and adaptation of existing robotics hardware according to the agreed upon concepts to enable robust and autonomous use of it and to enable integration with other robotics components
- Models of the hardware for easy configuration, simulation and deployment of this hardware in the context of the BRICS Integrated Development Environment
- A comprehensive action plan to implement common Robotics RTD Platforms in a sustainable way as an instrument for the European robotics community to more easily conduct and benchmark research and perform technology transfers
Results:
- T. Guhl. Hardware according to specification developed. BRICS Deliverable D1.2, October 2011.
- F. Weisshardt. Care-O-bot-Research: Providing robust robotics hardware to an open source community. Schunk Expert Days, 24th February, 2011.
- Updated version: Specification of required hardware: Update of BRICS Deliverable D1.1 available.
- F. Weisshardt, U. Reiser, C. Parlitz and A. Verl. Making High-Tech Service Robot Platforms Available. In K. Neumann (Ed.), R.D. Schraft (Chairman), K. Berns (Chairman). International Federation of Robotics: Joint International Conference of ISR/ROBOTIK2010. Munich, 7-9 June 2010, Berlin, Offenbach, VDE-Verlag, 2010, S. 1115-1120.
- R. Bischoff, J. Kurth, G. Schreiber, R. Koeppe, A. Albu-Schäffer, A. Beyer, O. Eiberger, S. Haddadin, A. Stemmer, G. Grunwald and G. Hirzinger. The KUKA-DLR Lightweight Robot arm − a new reference platform for robotics research and manufacturing. In Proc. of the IFR International Symposium on Robotics (ISR 2010), June 2010, Munich, Germany.
- R. Bischoff, T. Guhl, E. Prassler, W. Nowak, G. Kraetzschmar, H. Bruyninckx, P. Soetens, M. Haegele, A. Pott, P. Breedveld, J. Broenink, D. Brugali and N. Tomatis. BRICS − Best practice in robotics. In Proc. of the IFR International Symposium on Robotics (ISR 2010), June 2010, Munich, Germany.
- G. Schreiber, A. Stemmer, R. Bischoff. The Fast Research Interface for the KUKA Lightweight Robot. In Proc. of the IEEE ICRA 2010 Workshop on ICRA 2010 Workshop on Innovative Robot Control Architectures for Demanding (Research) Applications − How to Modify and Enhance Commercial Controllers. Anchorage, May 2010, p. 15-21.
- C. P. Connette. Kosteneffiziente Verfahren zur Navigation von FTS. In Hebezeuge Fördermittel − Fachzeitschrift für Technische Logistik. Nr.9; pp. 434-435; HUSS-MEDIEN GmbH; Berlin; September 2009.
- Specification of required hardware: BRICS Deliverable D1.1 available.